Iranian MP confirms that Iran sent ballistic missiles to Russia, US calls it “a dramatic escalation”

Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, admitted that Iran has sent Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia, which it plans to use to shell Ukraine.

He said this in an interview with Iranian newspaper Didban Iran, as reported by Iran International.

In response to reports in Western media about the shipment of ballistic missiles to Russia, Ardestani stated that Tehran must barter with Russia “to meet our needs, including imports of soybeans and wheat.”

“Part of the barter involves sending missiles, and the other part involves sending military drones to Russia,” he added.

Asked whether sending ballistic missiles to Russia could lead to further sanctions against Iran, the Iranian lawmaker replied, “It can’t get any worse than this. We give missiles to Hezbollah, Hamas, and Hashd al-Shaabi (the Shiite militia in Iraq, Ed.), so why not give them to Russia?”

“We sell weapons and receive dollars. We circumvent sanctions through our partnership with Russia. We import soybeans, corn, and other goods from Russia. Europeans sell arms to Ukraine. NATO has entered Ukraine, so why shouldn’t we support our ally by sending missiles and drones to Russia?” Ardestani said.

Despite this admission, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani, in a commentary to IRNA, once again denied reports that Tehran had sent ballistic missiles to Russia.

He also claimed that Tehran has allegedly “never been a part of the conflict,” opposes the war, and “supports a political solution to resolve the differences between Russia and Ukraine to end the conflict.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed deep concern over media reports that Iran had already transferred its ballistic missiles to Russia and called on Tehran to refrain from providing Moscow with any weapons.

“Once again, we call on the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran to refrain from transferring any weapons and military equipment to Russia, which is an aggressor state under the UN Charter and international law,” the Foreign Ministry said. 

Western media reported that Iran had already transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia. Some sources spoke of more than 200 missiles.

Reuters, which was the first to report on the upcoming transfer of ballistic missiles from Iran to Russia, wrote that it could be Fath-360, a system that launches ballistic missiles with a maximum range of 120 kilometres and a warhead weighing 150 kilogrammes.

Dozens of Russian military are being trained in Iran to use the Fath-360 ballistic missile system, two European intelligence sources told Reuters. They expected the imminent delivery of hundreds of Iranian satellite-guided missiles to Russia for its war of aggression against Ukraine.

The White House National Security Council has stated that if Iran has transferred or will transfer ballistic missiles to Russia, it will be a “dramatic escalation” in Tehran’s support for Russia’s war against Ukraine. Sean Savett, the spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, made this statement, CNN reported.

Savett said that “any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would be a dramatic escalation” in Iran’s support for Russia’s war against Ukraine. In the statement, he neither confirmed nor denied that this had happened.